Focus and balance, Nooyi has aplenty
Meet Indra Nooyi in an exclusive chat with ET, her first media interview after taking over as PepsiCo CEO.
By Chaitali Chakravarty, TNN |
NEW DELHI: One great woman who had to be replaced by two great men at a $32-bn MNC is about to enter another hallowed portal. Indra Nooyi, CEO & president-designate of PepsiCo, was the natural choice for The Global Indian of the Year accolade for The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence jury 2006. She would be stepping into the shoes of another legendary Global Indian, steel baron LN Mittal, who bagged the honour last year.
The Chennai girl who’s today the toast of global management circuits, managed to talk to ET despite her hectic travelling schedule as we conveyed the news of her latest honour. “It’s a bit overwhelming,” she says, adding, “Being named the Global Indian of the Year by ET and becoming PepsiCo’s president & CEO all in the same week is wonderful and humbling at the same time.”
Incidentally, Ms Nooyi moves into the corner room officially on October 1 while the ET Awards would be given away by a high-power reform panel headed by PM Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram on October 6, all in the same week. “It’s also more than a little intimidating because both these honours carry tremendous responsibilities. The highly distinguished leaders who have received the prestigious ET awards in the past along with the remarkable lineage of my CEO predecessors at PepsiCo represent an amazing dual-legacy that would humble anyone,” she says.
But at ET, we don’t share her humble doubts. After all, the Madras Christian College-IIM Calcutta alum who went to Yale en route the PepsiCo corner room is one known to cherish the toughest responsibilities. And that was something that prompted Steve Reinumund, the outgoing CEO and president of PepsiCo, to quip: “It has taken two great men to replace one great woman.” He was announcing Nooyi’s elevation to the top post while detailing that her current job of president and CFO was being broken into two positions.
So, how does it feel to be your own boss at a $32-bn MNC? Well, Ms Nooyi is once again at her humble best. “The truth is that, even though I’m PepsiCo’s new CEO, I have many bosses. Not least of all my chairman, our board of directors, and shareholders to be sure, but especially the millions of loyal customers and consumers who support us every day. That’s a lot of accountability for all of us at PepsiCo, and a lot of bosses. My biggest challenge is to continue driving the profitable growth that has made PepsiCo a recognised world leader.
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“That requires a constant focus on innovation, serving our customers better than anyone else, managing costs, and developing our associates’ own growth. It’s a tall order, but we have the most beloved brands, the iconic products and incredibly talented people to achieve it ... and to achieve it the right way by upholding PepsiCo’s values as a caring and socially responsible corporation.”
OK, now that she has seen the corporate world closely, would she want her two daughters to enter the fray? “All my husband Raj and I want for our wonderful daughters is that they are successful at whatever they choose to do, and that it brings them fulfilment and makes them happy. That means pursuing their own dreams and what appeals to them, what challenges them, and hopefully what will provide them with life-long learning. If that should mean working in the corporate world, that would be fine. If it means something completely different, so be it. We all must choose and follow our own paths in life. Most importantly, whatever our daughters choose, Raj and I try to instil in them what our parents instilled in us — a will to dream big and the passion to pursue their dreams with everything they’ve got,” says Ms Nooyi.
So how does a billion-dollar CEO unwind at the end of the day? “Well, my love for my family, learning, music and laughter provide me with the outlets I need, so I try and surround myself with as much of all these things as often as possible to help maintain balance in my life, and in the process, manage stress. It might be simply a quiet time enjoying with my family, reading, listening to a favourite CD, or taking the time and perspective to find the humour in the life around me. The key is ensuring I keep things in proper focus and balance.”
Focus and balance, she has aplenty. Ms Nooyi’s big dream positioned her to take the big role after spending 12 years in PepsiCo. As chief executive, Ms Nooyi’s leadership team will include the company’s division heads: Michael White, PepsiCo vice-chairman and chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo International; Albert Carey, president and chief executive of Frito-Lay North America; John Compton, president and chief executive of Quaker-Tropicana-Gatorade; Thomas Greco, president of PepsiCo sales; and Dawn Hudson, president and chief executive of Pepsi-Cola North America.
Ms Nooyi started her career in India, where she held product manager positions at Johnson & Johnson and at textile firm Mettur Beardsell. Today, in addition to her role on the PepsiCo board, Ms Nooyi serves on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Motorola, the International Rescue Committee and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Legend has it that while studying in Connecticut, the young Ms Nooyi worked as a receptionist from midnight to sunrise to earn money and struggled to put together $50 to buy herself a western suit for her first job interview out of Yale. And she went to her first successful interview draped in a sari. That honesty clicked and she got the job and has followed the philosophy for the rest of her career.
Along with honesty, faith is something that she banks on at times of importance. A personal friend recalled to ET: “When the PepsiCo-Quaker Oats deal was being inked, Nooyi insisted on going to the local temple and distributed the prasad to the amusement of the whole deal meisters. Only then did she sign on the paper.“
Well, Ms Nooyi’s faith has sure moved mountains, and more.
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